Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Federal Firebrands

It’s a long way from ideation to execution on the road to Federal IT modernization. Between an agency knowing what it wants and finally getting what it needs to excel in mission and service to citizens can be a rugged and winding road. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is seeking industry applications for its Biometric Technology Rally to bring together industry innovators that can help advance DHS’s enterprise operations. […]

Department of Commerce

Since its 2016 launch, the Opportunity Project, an open-data Federal program that partners public and private organizations to solve tech problems, has completed 100 products via nationwide virtual sprints, Director Drew Zachary announced at a March 3 FCW Citizen Engagement Summit. […]

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, co-chair of the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Committee that is set to release recommendations next week on how to better defend the U.S. against cyber threats, indicated today that Federal government coordination and new thinking about deterrence will be among the report’s major findings. […]

VA

The General Services Administration (GSA) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced today that they’ve partnered on GSA’s Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative and are “entering into a sprint-based discovery phase to address strategy, acquisition, and technology challenges and solutions, including cloud architecture and security configuration.” […]

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) release of Federal website standards in December 2019 was intended to aid agency compliance with the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA), but Larry Gillick, chief of web and digital strategy at the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Production and Conservation Business Center, raised concerns with unintended consequences of the standards. […]

Telehealth

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) said today it led a call on Monday with science ministers and chief advisors from several allied nations “to share information on integrating science” into national responses to the COVID-19 virus. […]

DHS

Today’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing on DHS’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget request covered a wide array of topics. However, Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), spent much of his time defending a budget cut to Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]

Suzette Kent

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is seeking comment on a proposal that would order Federal agencies to develop additional IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) implementation plans by the end of Fiscal Year 2021, and sharply boost requirements for agencies to increase the amount of IPv6-only assets on their networks through FY2025. […]

elections, election security, voting
NIH

 The Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which holds tens of thousands of sensitive patient records, needs to develop a secure data backup site, according to a report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). […]

NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) said today it hired the agency’s first research security chief, Rebecca Spyke Keiser, who will oversee NSF’s strategy and policy for securing Federally funded research while remaining open to international collaboration. […]

The Federal Trade Commission announced it will hold a public workshop on May 13 in Washington to hear testimony and review research on proposed changes to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s Safeguards Rule that requires financial institutions to implement information security programs. […]

President Trump on Feb. 28 named Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, as his nominee for Director of National Intelligence, a job that has been vacant since Dan Coats resigned last August. […]

Washington DC capitol federal government-min
White House

The White House announced late Friday that its Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, have set up the Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats. […]

cyber workforce
FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on a final order Feb. 28 to auction mid-band spectrum for use by providers of 5G wireless services, but the vote spurred some criticism from members of both parties in Congress.  The auction is set for December 2020. […]

electric grid

MetTel, formerly known as the Manhattan Telecommunications Corporation, won a $253.5 million enterprise infrastructure solutions (EIS) task order with the Social Security Administration (SSA) Feb. 4 for telecommunications services. […]

FCC, Chinese suppliers

Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly shared “one of [his] greatest’s lessons in business” in a recent message to the department. He wrote that the quality of a company’s employee bathroom was a “nearly foolproof indicator” of a good organization. […]

General Motors CEO Mary Barra emphasized at the RSA security conference this week that development of robust cybersecurity technologies for the automotive sector is a crucial factor in the industry-wide push toward autonomous driving technologies and eventually fully self-driving vehicles. […]

DHS

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (DHS) wants solicitations from start-ups that can develop technology to track objects underwater as a part of its Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP), according to a Feb. 27 announcement.  […]

Pentagon Military Defense DoD

The Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence (AI) Center (JAIC) selected Alka Patel, a pull from the private sector with “diverse skills and experience” to help lead its ethical AI adoption, per JAIC spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson on Feb. 28. […]

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